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INVESTMENTS IN UNCONSOLIDATED ENTITIES
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2012
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements [Abstract]  
Investments in Unconsolidated Entities

NOTE 4. INVESTMENTS IN UNCONSOLIDATED ENTITIES

We provide additional information concerning all of our equity method investments in Note 4 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in the Annual Report.

 

Sempra Renewables

For the three months ended March 31, 2012, Sempra Renewables invested $50 million in its renewable wind generation joint ventures, of which $43 million was invested in the Flat Ridge 2 Wind Farm project.

Sempra Natural Gas

Sempra Natural Gas owns a 25-percent interest in Rockies Express Pipeline LLC (Rockies Express), a partnership that operates a natural gas pipeline, the Rockies Express Pipeline (REX), that links producing areas in the Rocky Mountains region to the upper Midwest and the eastern United States. Kinder Morgan Energy Partners L.P. (KMP) and ConocoPhillips (Conoco) own the remaining interests of 50 percent and 25 percent, respectively. Our total investment in Rockies Express is accounted for as an equity method investment.

KMP has announced its intention to sell certain assets, including its interest in REX. KMP is proposing to divest these assets in order for KMP's general partner, Kinder Morgan, Inc., to obtain approval for a proposed acquisition. We believe that this sales process could result in an indication of fair value for KMP's interest in REX. If so, we would consider what, if any, impacts this information could have on our recorded value for REX. If such information indicated an impairment of our investment, we would also need to evaluate whether such impairment, if any, was other than temporary, in accordance with applicable accounting standards for equity method investments.

RBS SEMPRA COMMODITIES

RBS Sempra Commodities LLP (RBS Sempra Commodities) is a United Kingdom limited liability partnership that owned and operated commodities-marketing businesses previously owned by us. We and our partner in the joint venture, The Royal Bank of Scotland plc (RBS), sold substantially all of the partnership's businesses and assets in four separate transactions completed in July, November and December of 2010 and February of 2011. We account for our investment in RBS Sempra Commodities under the equity method, and report our share of partnership earnings and other associated costs in Parent and Other.

In April 2011, we and RBS entered into a letter agreement (Letter Agreement) which amended certain provisions of the agreements that formed RBS Sempra Commodities. The Letter Agreement addresses the wind-down of the partnership and the distribution of the partnership's remaining assets. The investment balance of $126 million at March 31, 2012 reflects remaining distributions expected to be received from the partnership in accordance with the Letter Agreement. The timing and amount of distributions may be impacted by the matters we discuss related to RBS Sempra Commodities in Note 10 under “Other Litigation.” In addition, amounts may be retained by the partnership for an extended period of time to help offset unanticipated future general and administrative costs necessary to complete the dissolution of the partnership.

In connection with the Letter Agreement described above, we also released RBS from its indemnification obligations with respect to the items for which J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (JP Morgan), one of the buyers of the partnership's businesses, has agreed to indemnify us.

Pretax equity losses from RBS Sempra Commodities were $8 million for the three months ended March 31, 2011. We recorded no equity earnings or loss related to the partnership in the first quarter of 2012. The fair value measurement of our investment in RBS Sempra Commodities was significantly impacted by unobservable inputs (i.e., Level 3 inputs) as defined by the accounting guidance for fair value measurements which we discuss in Note 11 in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in the Annual Report. The inputs included estimated future cash distributions expected from the partnership.

We discuss the RBS Sempra Commodities sales transactions, the Letter Agreement and other matters concerning the partnership in Note 4 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in the Annual Report.